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Environment / Sustainability

Trash audit to be held during RecycleMania to demonstrate unnecessary landfill waste

February 24, 2011

Colorado State University will conduct their annual Trash Audit on Wednesday, March 2, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on the east side of the Lory Student Center Plaza to determine how much of the university's waste could have been recycled or composted rather than thrown away.

Multiple dumpsters from around campus will be sorted by Live Green Team volunteers into compost, recycle, reuse and trash piles and weighed by Integrated Solid Waste staff to provide data on how much material in campus dumpsters is truly waste and how much could have been diverted. Last year’s audit found that 37 percent of the material in campus dumpsters could have been recycled, composted, or reused. That figure is down from 40 percent in 2009.

Trash Audit is a visual message

“The Trash Audit sends a strong message to students, staff and faculty who see it taking place,” said Tonie Miyamoto, chair of the Live Green Team. “The visual of a huge pile of trash with so many items that could have been recycled, reused, or composted helps educate our campus community on how much waste we generate and what everyone can do to reduce that amount.”

Plans to expand composting efforts

Clean Air Composting, a local company, has partnered with the Live Green Team to provide composting services for the waste audit. CSU currently composts all materials from the Braiden Dining Center and Ram's Horn Dining Center totaling more than 300,000 pounds of compostable pulp each year. Facilities Management and Housing and Dining Services plan to expand campus composting efforts with the installation of an Earth Bin, a large-scale, in-vessel commercial composter, on the Foothills campus later this spring.

"We have worked at bringing composting to campus for several years, and it is very exciting that we are just around the corner to seeing it become a reality," said Rick Pott, Housing and Dining Services facility planner, who has worked with the Live Green Team, Facilities Management, Foothills Campus, and Larimer County to secure the necessary external reviews to install the Earth Bin.

Help CSU finish first in RecycleMania

Colorado State University is a recognized leader in sustainable living and business practices. The Trash Audit will occur in the midst of RecycleMania, a national recycling challenge, where CSU has consistently placed among the top 5 percent of schools in the nation.

For more information about recycling at CSU, visit Facilities Management's website.